Finally! New Frock Flicks Podcast!

It’s taken a very long time, and this time it’s MY fault — but there’s finally a new episode of the Frock Flicks costume movie podcast!

This time we invite Francis to join us as we watch the first two episodes of Showtime’s The Borgias (season 2 is premiering soon, so it’s sort of topical!).  Listen as we geek out on shoes and eyeglasses, discuss historical body ideals, and bemoan the shy guys!

Warning: Not for the easily offended, totally sober, or honestly, anyone under 21. This one finally went over the top & we gave it an “explicit” tag in iTunes for frequent discussion of male body parts. Give us a break, there weren’t a ton of costumes to look at. Just pope-y stuff, so we kinda went south fast.

Grab a cocktail & go here:
http://www.trystancraft.com/frockflicks/frockflicks.xml

Or go here, click “View in iTunes,” & then click “Subscribe.”  Then you’ll get all our updates whenever you open iTunes & refresh your podstreams.

The time lag, for once, is my fault — I told Trystan I’d take over editing and uploading the podcasts, because I wanted to do more and get them posted quicker.  Well, when you hear Sarah inviting you all to the costume bloggers meetup at LAST year’s Costume College, you can know it was my lagger-y-ness to blame!

Let us know what you think!

André Studios Fashion Drawings 1930-1941

The New York Public Library and the Fashion Institute of Technology have teamed up to scan the André Studios fashion drawings collection. André Studios was an NYC-based design studio that created fashions sketches for leading designers like Chanel, Balenciaga, and Schiaparelli, which were then used to sell designs to clothing manufacturers.  The collection includes tons of stunning sketches for women’s fashions, and anyone interested in the 1930s or early 1940s should check it out!

You can also check out the other digital collections of the NYPL, many of which are costume-related, and FIT has put up a number of images from their special collections onto Flickr.

Here’s a few highlights from the André Studios:

Illuminated Manuscripts on Wikimedia Commons

This could be old news to you, but maybe not!  I recently discovered that Wikimedia Commons has a specific category for illuminated manuscripts by century, which includes TONS of gorgeous manuscript illustrations from the 2nd through the 16th century — and these illustrations are a fabulous source for medieval costuming.

[Edited to add:  Might have been nice if I’d added the link to illuminated manuscripts by century in Wikimedia Commons!]

In particular, I am stunned by the gorgeousness of De Mulieribus Claris, which is from the late 15th or early 16th century.  Here’s a small sampling of images:

Well Hi There!

Work has been busy, plus I’ve been watching lots of shlocky 1940s-set tv shows/movies (Bomb Girls, Land Girls, The War Bride, etc.) so I’ve been on a modern/vintage sewing kick!

In the meantime, I recommend reading this article from Humanities Magazine about the backstory of the Illuminating Fashion exhibition & book.  I’d be interested in knowing what medieval costumers think of the book — does it provide a lot of new information?

Oakland Museum White Elephant Sale Haul

Every year the Oakland Museum holds their White Elephant Sale, a cross between an antiques market and thrift store, held in a ginormous warehouse conveniently about 5 min. from my house!  This year we went to the preview sale (Bay Area-ites take note, the official sale will be March 3-4), as we have for the past few years, to get an early crack at buying — and I mean early, as in showing up by 8am on a Sunday and waiting in line for 2 hours.

But, it was worth it, because I got a great haul!  I’ve finally figured out how to target my arriving-early time — in the past I’ve tried to head for vintage clothes first, but the vintage dealers literally clean the racks out in about 5 min. flat.  This year I headed for sewing first, and finally have figured out where the NICE fabric is kept, so I grabbed a shopping basket, threw all the silk in it, and then sorted through to figure out what I wanted to keep.

Here’s my haul: